Railway-rail joint.



PATENTED SEPT. 4, 1906.

S P. STEVER.

' RAILWAY RAIL JOINT.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 18,1905.

V/ NTOR o/om on F. 5 ts 1161 A ,1; aftome 1 UNITED sra rns PATENT orrron.

RAILWAY-BAIL JOlNT Application filed September 1 T aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SOLOMON FINK STEVER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Fairfield, in the county of Jefferson and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway-Rail Joints, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improved railway-rail joint; and it. consists in the constructions, combinations, and arrangements herein described and claimed.

The object of my invention is to provide a suspended joint for railway-rails which will clamp the inelosed rail ends against vertical oscillation during the passage of a train thereover and also prevent creeping of the rails and in which the movement of each rail, due to its contraction and expansion, will be limited and'proportioned to the'space between the two-joints supporting its respective ends.

A prior patent, No. 492,848, granted to me,

discloses a truss form of rail-'oint provided with a flange-clamp, in whicrthe joint is.

clamped to the rail by bolts passing through the clamp and through fish-plates carried thereby. The constructiondisclosed in such" prior patent has proven disadvantageous, in that the engagement of the fish-plates withthe lower surface of the rail-head prevents the flange-clamp from being adjusted to maintain it in clamping engagement with the rail-flange duringthe life of the joint. For example, if the fish-plates in this previous construction were made of sufficient height to engage the lower surface of the rail-head when the clamp was initially properly adjusted on the rail-flange such engagement of the fishplates would prevent adjustment of the clamp to compensate for the working out of scale and dirt. from between the clamp and flange. 1 My present invention is an improvement over that of my former patent and provides a construction in which the adjustment of the flange-clamp is not effected by the engage- .ment of the fish-plates with the rail-head.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this application, and in which similar referencesymbols indicato corresponding parts in the several views, Figure 1 is a detail elevation illustrating my improved'joint applied to a railway. Fig. 2 is a sectional view on a plane indicated by the line 2 2 of Fig. 1, I and Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing my, improved joint with the inclosed rail ends.

Referrin to the drawings, my improved railway-red joint is shown comprising truss- Speeifieation of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 4, 1906. 8,1905. .-Ser'ia1No;278,l39.

'strength'to prevent any depression of the rail ends supported thereon. The truss-plates are provided with clampingmembersB B, which joint in close proximity to the lower surface of the railflange, provide a certain and-efficient adjustment for maintaining the truss plates securely against the lower surface of said flange.

Outwardly-curved supports or fishepl'ates D D extend upwardly fromthe clamp members B B in positi'on'to'be forced against the ports and extend through the usual elongated openings in the rail-web. It will be note that by thus constructing the supports D D with outward curvatures said supports can be plates A A, w'hich'are formed of sufiicient are constructed to engage the inclined upper. surface of the rail-flange O for drawin the lower surface of-the rail-head Eby means of bolts F, which latter pass through said supforced against the under surface of therailhead E by flattening their curvature under the tension of the bolts F F. p This has proven a very advantageous construction in practice,

since it prevents the secure gripping action of the truss-plates and clamping members on the rail-flange C from being interfered with the under su ace ofthe railhead E.

In the employment 'of my invention the joint is properly positioned on the ends of the through enga ement of the supports D 'with rails, with the end surfaces of the truss-plates The bolts members into contact with the inclined upper surface of the rail-flange C, thereby forcing the truss-plates tightly/against the lower sur-' face of said flange with a wedging action. Thebolts F are. then tightened to force the curved supports D into'proper engagement with the lower surface of the rail-head E.

By placing my joint in suspended position between two sleepers I not only avoid all battering of the rail ends,'such as is rendered liable by improper setting in those types of will cause any improperly-settrail ends toassome a proper position under'the action of passing trains. v t

I have found in practice that thls conjoints which aresupported on the tops of the sleepers,'but also provide a joint which struction enables me to obtain a satisfactory and practical 'oint with only two clampingbolts G, and thus to construct a short joint adapted to litbetween two consecutive sleepers. Constructing the ends of the clamp with surfaces to abut against the adjacent sides of the sleepers provides a most ellicient means for preventing the usual troublesome crawling of the rails, and thus obviates the necessity for constantly tightening and renewing the spikes employed for securing rails to the sleepers. It further prevents the conimon dragging of the joints by contraction and expansion of the rails, and thus insures that the movement of each rail, due to its exansion and contraction, Will be proportioned between the joints supporting its respective ends.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is' a 1. A rolled railway-rail joint comprising a pair of rigid truss-plates and clamp members for engaging the rail-flange, clamping means for locking said 7 plates and members in clamped position against the rail-flange, outwardly curved supports extending upwardly iron] said clamp members and means indiipendent of said clamping means for flattening the curval ure of said supports to force and members in clamped posit ion againstthe railila1'ige, outwardly-curved supports extending upwardly from said clamp members, and means independem of said clamping means for flattening the curvature. of said supports to force the upper ends thereof into engagement with the lower surface of the railhead, sulistanlially as described.

In testimony whereof I allix my signature in presence of two \Yil'liOSSOS.

SOLOMON Fl NK S'llCYElL Witnesses:

G. Arnns,

CHARLES Lownm, llowann. 

